Summer Sky Thrill (Jun, 1946)

Summer Sky Thrill is promised by this airplane wheel, the invention of Harold T. Austin, of Seattle, Wash. Austin got the idea while working on B-29s at the Boeing Aircraft plant during the war and set up this first model in the back of his workshop. The wheel, a 1946 version of the Ferris Wheel, has twelve small planes which rotate on a vertical axis as the wheel goes ’round. The inventor and four former Boeing employees plan to put it into production for carnivals and amusement parks.

A very similar ride called the Divebombers appeared in the fair during my Scottish 1970s childhood. It had, however, only two “cars”, which were larger and enclosed. I would never have considered going on it, coward that I am.